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Things James Says

I can't believe this kid of ours will be THREE years old in a couple of weeks.

"Thomas, you're a GENIUS!!"
I'm not entirely certain where this came from, but from the time we brought him home, James will gently poke Thomas' cheek and say, "Thomas - you're a GENIUS!" This might be because we watch a show on PBS called Peg + Cat, and Peg often calls Cat a genius. I asked James this morning, "What is a genius?" His immediate answer was, "Babies." Maybe he's right. <3

"A lot of many..."
James is kind of in awe with things in large amounts. His current exclamation shows this - not just a lot, not just many... but a lot of many! For example, if I roll down his window in the truck, he'll say:
"I see a lot of many cars and trees and roof-es!" Or: "There's a lot of many cars in here!" (parking garage)

"It's okay, it's bedtime!"
One of the things I started a couple of months ago is saying something kind of silly when we lay down to go to bed at night. I'd turn off the lights, and say in a silly voice: "I can't see ANYthing!" and then I'd follow it up with: "But it's okay! It's bedtime!" Kind of to reinforce that - yep - it's time for bed, it's good that it's dark because it helps us go to sleep. So now, it's a thing that we have as a routine. I turn off the lights and say the first part... and James immediately says in a chirpy, upward inflection, "It's okay, it's bedtime!"

"I'm a big, strong boy!" / "We're all three big strong guys!"
Apparently some of the things we say to encourage James seep in. When he lifts something heavy or accomplishes something big, he'll exclaim something like this. Alan said that when the three of them are solo (just the guys), James will say the latter. Too sweet.

"Dad, I'm big like you!"
Out of nowhere, James ran up while Alan was using the restroom, knocked on the door, and yelled this.

"That's my Alan!"
This one kills me. He's always been about telling us about his people - "That's my dog! That's my baby!" But out of nowhere, as Alan is leaving the house, James will say "Bye, Dad!" and then turn to me and say, "That's my Alan!" Hahah. That IS your Alan. (He doesn't seem to get that my name is Alex though.)

"I did it all by myself! I didn't even need any help!"
We've encouraged him by focusing on what he CAN do (we went through a dreaded "I can't!" phase a little while ago) and he seems to have internalized that language. When he accomplishes something, he's very excited and celebrates that he did it all himself.

"Do you SEE this?" / "You gotta see this!"
Love this one. James wants to share everything with us these days. New dance moves? An airplane in the sky? Bugs on the ground? A special art project? We've GOTTA see this!

"Pokey pokey"
This is the heart-squeeziest one for me right now. He's learned tons of songs from daycare, one of which is the hokey pokey. Except James can't say hokey pokey... it's the pokey pokey. Oh my gosh, it's the cutest thing ever. His earnest, warbly, toddler voice, belting out the pokey pokey.

He sings theme songs (Octonauts, Dinotrux, Daniel Tiger...)
His memory is getting better, and he's full steam into repetition. For his favorite shows on Netflix, he can now sing back pretty much the whole theme songs, which is so sweet.